diff --git a/cmd/init.go b/cmd/init.go
index 93e4d01..84a2770 100644
--- a/cmd/init.go
+++ b/cmd/init.go
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ var initCommand = &cobra.Command {
       log.Fatal("path needs trailing slash")
     }
 
+    // TODO make a configurable list of binaries we want to look for
     var programs []string
     var acceptedprograms [3] string 
     acceptedprograms[0] = "nvim"
diff --git a/tools/copy.go b/tools/copy.go
index ed5cd71..e4773c6 100644
--- a/tools/copy.go
+++ b/tools/copy.go
@@ -4,12 +4,18 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/afero"
 )
 
 func CopyFile(os afero.Fs, srcFile, destFile string) error{
   // helper function to copy files over
+  // ignore pre-existing git files
+  if strings.Contains(srcFile, ".git") {
+    return nil
+  }
+
   sourceFileStat, err := os.Stat(srcFile)
   if err != nil {
     return err
@@ -19,6 +25,7 @@ func CopyFile(os afero.Fs, srcFile, destFile string) error{
     return fmt.Errorf("%s is not a regular file", srcFile)
   }
 
+
   source, err := os.Open(srcFile)
   if err != nil {
     return err
@@ -44,6 +51,9 @@ func CopyDir(os afero.Fs, srcDir, destDir string) error {
 
   for _, entry := range(entries) {
     if entry.IsDir() {
+      if entry.Name() == ".git" {
+        continue
+      }
       subDir := filepath.Join(srcDir, entry.Name())
       destSubDir := filepath.Join(destDir, entry.Name())
       err := os.MkdirAll(destSubDir, entry.Mode().Perm())